


Tell Her You Love Her

by LANEGOON



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Songfic, i wanna bury myself in carols fur coat, therese is so cute kill me, they're so gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6290500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LANEGOON/pseuds/LANEGOON
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by Tell Her You Love Her by Echosmith</p><p>or</p><p>pure carol & therese FLUFF (after all the angst of course) (oneshots)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Her You Love Her

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic in a while aka two years, and i'm a bit rusty, so sorry if it's terrible which it probably is, but i just HAD to write this because it's been bugging me for weeks. scenes in this fic are loosely inspired by lyrics from the song, italicized before each scene. 
> 
> if you haven't heard this song i thoroughly recommend you do, it's beautiful and amazing and i can't help but think of carol and therese when i listen to it. (( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7OnNc7ZJUI ))
> 
> (also i know there are so many oak room reunion fics but i just had to do it don't @ me ok)

_Tell her a story_

_Tell her the honest truth_

_\--- --- ---_

**_The Oak Room_ **

“I thought you had a party to attend?” Carol asked, filling the heavy silence that surrounded her and Therese.

Therese could sense the nervousness in Carol’s tone, and longed for nothing more than to reach out and place her hands on Carol’s, which were fidgeting, unable to stop twisting and turning the rings on her delicate fingers. Carol was not one known to Therese to be nervous very often, so to see Carol like this almost pained her. They were in public so Therese was cautious, and kept her hands to herself, clenched together in her lap under the table.

Therese and Carol were sitting alone in the restaurant, facing one another. Neither of the two dared to avert their eyes from the other, fearing that if they did the other woman would dissolve into thin air, and never be seen again.  It had been like that for the most part of the last hour, in the company of Carol’s friends? Work associates? Therese wasn’t sure who the loud men were, she wasn’t really listening. Her mind had blanked whilst Carol introduced them, and the outside world seemed to vanish, as Carol had placed a firm hand in the small of her back, as she led her to the empty chair beside Carol’s. She had resisted the urge to lean back into Carols hand and body right there in the middle of that restaurant. Therese had noticed the empty chair when she had entered the Oak Room and spotted the blonde, mid laugh, head thrown back, the most beautiful sight Therese had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Did beautiful Carol know Therese would come? Was she _that_ predictable? Did Carol know that no matter how hard Therese had tried to deny it during their time apart, she _needed_ the blonde woman?

The men had all left mere minutes ago, mumbling incoherent sentences about wives waiting at home, and early work starts in the morning. Therese was silently grateful that she was alone with Carol now.

“Therese, dearest, that party?” Carol enquired again, pulling Therese from her thoughts. Therese’s cheeks flushed, realising she had totally forgot to answer Carol’s question. Or maybe her cheeks flushed at the use of the word ‘dearest’. She wasn’t quite sure. Therese still stayed mute, as she lifted herself from her seat.

 Carol’s face visibly fell. Therese was leaving. She had said or done something wrong and now her beloved -

“Are you coming?” Therese said confidently, interrupting Carol’s internal dialogue. Carol smiled weakly, and Therese could see the corner of Carol’s piercing grey eyes glistening. Carol would not let tears fall. She would not let her confident Therese see her that weak. Carol stood also, and followed Therese out to the street.

“Where to? We could go to – “

“My apartment. We need to talk.”

 

 

**_Therese’s apartment_ **

Therese leaned her body on her front door, as she watched Carol walk into her tiny apartment. Carol’s elegant and well-kept self was such a stark contrast to the untidy, drab apartment. She looked out of place, standing there in her large fur coat in front of Therese’s threadbare couch.

Therese was suddenly overwhelmed. Carol was in her apartment.

_Carol._

The same glorious Carol that she saw from across her Frankenberg’s counter. The same Carol that took her to lunch, and had a look of curiosity in her eye. The same Carol whose hands lingered maybe a fraction too long on Therese’s shoulders as she played piano in Carol’s house. The same Carol who kissed her with so much passion, and held her so tight and dearly that night in Waterloo. The same Carol that made her feel so loved.

The same Carol who disappeared, and left Therese to awake naked in bed alone, with Abby in the room. The same Carol who said nothing when Therese called that night, when Therese missed her so much it _ached._ The same Carol who hadn’t made any contact with her in months.  The same Carol that made her feel so alone.

The same Carol who _left._

Carol had seemed to notice the sudden change in Therese’s demeanour. She noticed Therese’s jaw go stiff, eyebrows furrow, and knuckles turn white.

“Therese, dearest – “Carol tried to speak, as she took a stride towards the shorter woman.

“Don’t” Therese whispered. She had never ever dared to interrupt Carol before, but this was already the second time she had done it tonight. Carol stopped in her tracks. Therese had grown into a much more confident woman during her time apart from Carol. Carol could see it, and she could feel it in the way Therese stared at her, with such confidence, without a hint of nervousness or naivety as Carol had grew to know. This was Therese’s apartment; things will be done how Therese wants them done. Things will move at Therese’s pace. It will no longer be Carol who calls the shots, right now, it will be Therese.

“Tell me what you feel Therese. **Tell me the honest truth.”**

“I know why you had to leave. I know you had to try, for Rindy...” Therese started to say quickly, as she tended to when she got angry or heated. She hesitated when she saw Carol’s breath quicken at the mention of her daughter’s name though. At that moment Therese wished to run to Carol, and envelope her in her arms for eternity and take away her pain, but Therese continued, because she knows you can’t always get what you want, and if she didn’t continue she might crumble and never be able to speak these words again – “…But you just left Carol. _You left._ I woke up in a cold hotel room with _ABBY_ watching over me! I didn’t hear from you for months Carol. You never physically _said_ goodbye! All I had was your letter. All I had was the sound of you breathing over the phone when you stayed silent, before you _hung up on me_. What’s worse is, I wanted to hate you. I wanted to hate you for leaving me, but I couldn’t. How could I? _In what world could I ever hate you Carol?”_

Carol looked as if she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth and closed it again, the words she wanted to say couldn’t make from her heart to her mouth. She was overwhelmed. She retreated to Therese’s couch and fell back, and cradled her head in her left hand. She knew Therese was right. She had left the poor girl. Her poor, poor Therese, whom she loved so dearly. All the while Therese paced around the room, until she rested against her small, cheap looking dining room table. Tears threatened to spill, evident by her shaky breaths and thumping heart.

“You know what hurt the most, Carol?” Therese’s eyes stated to get blurry with tears, so she rubbed them away with a shaking hand. “I thought I was never going to see you again. I was never going to talk to you, and hear your voice again. Never touch you, hug you, kiss you. I cried so much the first few weeks, first months. Everything reminded me of you Carol. Everything. And you weren’t there.”

 _“You weren’t there.”_ Therese repeated, in a mere whisper that even she herself had trouble hearing. Carol heard it too, and she felt her weak heart break.

Therese was also crying again now. She used her hands to brace herself on her table, and tried to take a few breaths. She was so caught up in her own emotions that she didn’t notice Carol had stood up, and strode across the room to be face to face with Therese. She hated seeing Therese fall apart like this, knowing she was the reason. She hated to think of the sleepless nights Therese probably had, body aching from all her chokes and sobs. Tear stained pillows, and smudged makeup.

Carol reached up and hesitantly took Therese’s face in her own shaking hands. Carol didn’t know if Therese would want her to do that, but when Therese nuzzled into her right hand, she knew she had made the right choice. She tried to use her perfectly manicured fingers to wipe the tears that were flowing freely down Therese’s cheeks, but there were just too many. Therese opened her eyes and saw Carol gazing at her with a look of utmost love and affection, that her breath was momentarily caught. She couldn’t believe this beautiful woman loved her. Loved her in Waterloo, loves her in Therese’s dingy apartment, and from the look on Carol’s face, will love her for the rest of eternity.

Carol resorted to cradling Therese’s head in her own chest, as she stroked her soft short hair. Carol whispered sweet nothings into the brunette’s ear, just as she had done that night in Waterloo. Only this time, it wasn’t “I love you’s” or “You’re beautiful”, it was “I’m here” and “Don’t cry”.

After a few moments, Therese allowed herself to melt into Carol, and wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s waist. Carol let out a long, shaky breath that she didn’t realize she was holding. She hadn’t been able to breathe all these months without Therese by her side. The feeling of Therese’s strong arms around her, rubbing small circles into the small of her back was a sensation she never thought she would ever feel again.

Both women felt as though their world was finally whole again, their missing half was finally in place again.

**Author's Note:**

> sad therese makes me sad
> 
> next chapter will be based around the lyrics "when she says she loves you, tell her you love her too"
> 
> follow my tumblr: lane-goon.tumblr.com   
> follow my twitter: @HALCYONPVRIS
> 
> x


End file.
